Remember the Reels? Westra Home Movies

Growing up Westra, one of the fun activities would be to watch old home movies. Dad/Lamar got a "moving pictures" camera in 1969, and it would be brought out to record action shots for the next 10+ years, until a new VHS camcorder replaced it. The camera probably looked a little like the one pictured above (top left). It recorded onto 8mm film, little 3 inch reels. There were 43 little reels. You can see in the picture above, how Dad labeled them all, and stored them in old Planters snack cannisters. Movie film. To watch said film, it required a projector/player ... probably like the one pictured (bottom left). The reel would be added to the front wheel, and would feed past the light, and be projected onto a wall or screen, and then wind up onto the wheel in the rear. When the film was finished, the end would flap, flap, flap around until the machine was turned off and the rotation stopped. There was no sound recorded, just "moving pictures" ... but one of the things we Westra kids enjoyed was when Dad would play the film backwards. We'd laugh and laugh as our little bodies on the screen would run backwards and go UP the slide. 

It was quite a bit of work to watch these film reels. Getting out the projector, getting it on the wheel, feeding it into the machine. At some point, as technology improved, Jen got the reels converted to VHS. In the box with the old film reels was the invoice. $3.50 per reel (I peeked at prices today, and it's $10-$20 per small reel). The company took all the little reels, and combined them into six larger reels, and sent those back with all the home movies now on VHS tapes (one full, one with just the little bit extra that hadn't fit onto the first tape). When VHS went out of fashion, Jen had the tape converted to digital. 

The Chronicles of the Westra Family had been posted to the blog before, here it is again ...

On Youtube (https://youtu.be/IlVlhP8qoK8) and in Dropbox (Media Folder)

I'm not sure how many minutes each 3" reel held, not many. Google says between 2-4 minutes. That does seem accurate, as the final compilation is almost two hours long. As certain subjects (Scott's 6th Bday, EastersCompilation, TimelessToys) have been featured in a blog post, smaller, more easily digestible, clips have been included. There will be more to come...  found footage added to existing posts, and new posts featuring some of these events. Even though the video quality isn't great, it's still priceless!

Here's a TABLE OF CONTENTS as it were, based on Dad's labels (in bold) and Jen's additional notations. Glance through and see what's there, and you can use the time stamp to go directly to where you want to watch.  Birthdays, Christmas and Easter seemed to be the main focus through the years

#1 December 1969

Scott's 6th Birthday (:34)

Christmas 1969 (2:18)

#2 Easter 1970

Easter (3:10)

Wendy's Birthday (3:35)

Chris's Birthday (3:39)

#3 November/Christmas 1970

Jen's Here (4:59) 

Sledding in the driveway (video troubles - maybe redo?)

Scott's 7th Birthday (5:05)

Christmas (5:07)

#4 Dec 1970/Easter 1971

Jen New Year's Baby (5:14)

Misc Family/Hula Hoop

#5  Easter 1971

Easter (5:57)

Wendy's Bday (6:22)

Swimming (6:26)

Little Jen in a Recliner (7:22)

Swingset (7:36)

In the Yard (8:03)

Jen Crawl/Walk (8:09)

Bathtub (9:11)

Family

#6 November 1971 - Jenny

Jen Bday (9:55)

Sunday Dress (10:59)

Outside/Big Hole (11:10)

#7 December 1971

Scott's Bday (11:30)

Bathtime (13:00)

Christmas (13:15)

#8 January 1972 - Snow

Snow (14:11)

Sledding (14:29)

New Years (15:13)

More Sledding (15:48)

Snowman Pictures (16:06)

#9 March 1972

House/Yard (16:27)

Swing (16:59)

BigWheels (17:49)

#10 Easter 1972

Easter (18:36)

Bath (21:17)

Jen/Table (21:27)

#11 Wendy's 4th Birthday 

Wendy's 4th Birthday (22:00)

Sunday Best (23:51)

#12 Aug/Oct 1972 Richland - SLC

Carving Pumpkins (25:00)

Richland Friends (25:15)

Richland House

Sandbox (26:00)

White Dress (26:35)

Hermitage House/Yard (27:00)

#13 Thanksgiving 1972

Snow (27:40)

Hermitage House/Inside(28:16)

Pictures for Christmas Card (28:45)

Grandma Norman's House (29:05)

Grandma Burgener's House (29:40)

Snow! (30:30)

#14 Scott's Birthday

Family Party (31:31)

Friend Party (32:54)

#15 #16 Christmas 1972

Christmas at Grandma Norman's House (33:47)

Christmas Morning/Dollhouses (35:55) 

Grandma Burgener's House (39:25)

#17 Snow 1973 (40:05)

#18 Wendy's Bday (40:30)

Sandpile (41:38)

Family Reunion/Tortoise (42:00)

#19 Summer/Sept 1973

Chris's Bday (44:20)

Four Siblings (46:10)

#20 Nov/Dec 1973

Snow (46:40)

Jen's Bday (47:25)

#21 Xmas 1973/Easter 1974

Decorating the Tree/"Pool Table" (48:27)

Scott's Bday (49:15)

Christmas Morning (49:43)

Easter (51:27)

Christmas 1974 (52:47)

#22 Wendy's Bday  (54:23)

Cleveland (55:35)

Hermitage Backyard/Swings/Swimming (1:00:09)

#23 Yellowstone. Mammoth.Jackson

#24 Yellowstone. Chris Bday 1974 

Family Party (grandparents/cousins) Chris's Birthday? (1:01:07)

#25 Jenny Bday. Scott Bday 1974

Another Family Party, Jen's Bday? 1:01:40

Jen's Birthday Party (1:02:18)

Scott's Bday Party (1:03:35)

#26 Scott Bday/Wendy Bday/GhostTowns

Wendy Bday (1:04:45)

Truck and Camper (1:05:41)

Water/Camp (1:05:57)

Waterfalls (1:07:37)

#27 Chris and Margie's Birthdays1975

Hermitage Backyard (1:07:45)

Chris's Birthday Party

Halloween (1:09:47)

Margie's Bday (1:10:17)

#28 Christmas 1975/Easter 1976

Christmas (1:10:42)

Lorrie's Birthday (1:12)

Golf Clubs (1:12:35)

Piano (1:12:58)

Easter (1:13:23)

#29 Wendy Bday 

Wendy's Birthday/Family Party (1:13:41)

Baby Shane (1:14:34)

Skateboarding/Biking in the Circle (1:15:30)

Shane's Blessing Day (1:15:52)

Grandma Norman's House w/Burgeners (1:16:43)

#30 Chris and Margie's Birthdays

Kids Outside (1:17:41)

Baby Shane (1:18:19)

Margie's Bday (1:19)

Swingset (1:19:25)

#31 Jen'sBday/Christmas 1976

Jen's 6th Bday (1:19:32)

Scott Changing Baby Shane (1:20:43)

Scott's Bday (1:21:47)

Santa (1:22:08)

Grandma Norman's House (1:22:31)

Red Dresses (1:24)

#32 Christmas 1976

Christmas Morning (1:24:14)

Big Henry/Toto

Gingerbread House (1:25:27)

Baby Shane and Big Henry

Red Dresses Again

#33 Christmas 1976

Cousins Over (1:27:39)

Flash of Bath (on original - removed for YouTube)

New Year's Baby Shane (1:28:02)

#34 Easter 1977 

Basement/Chin Up Bar (1:28:07)

Grandparents Over (1:28:44)

Shane Walking (1:29:15)

Easter (1:29:58)

#35 Wendy Bday/Summer 1977

Wendy Bday (1:30:57)

Little Shane (1:31:31)

Shane's Bday

Summer Outside (1:33:32)

Lots of Neighbors, Tina the Dog

#36 Jenny Bday 1977

Jen's 7th Birthday (1:35:25)

Family Party - Grandparents and Cousins

#37 Scott's Bday 1977

Scott's Birthday (1:36:20)

#38 Christmas 1977

Christmas at Grandma Normans (1:38:44)

Westra Home (1:40:22)

Outside/ZimZam(1:41:58)

Cousins House (1:42:05)

#40 Christmas 1978 (oops, out of order)

Christmas Morning (1:42:14) seems to repeat here

Christmas Morning (1:44:26)

#39 Summer 1978, Shane'sBday

Jen/Wendy & Shane (1:45:08) 

Bathtime (1:45:14)

Wendy and Jen - Baton Twirling (1:46:17)

Parade (1:47:10)

Birthday Cake (1:47:27) - Chris blows out the candles ...

Easter (1:47:47)

Shane's Bday(1:47:56)

(Lots of flowers/bouquet in background, Kellie's passing)

Westra Backyard/Cousins/Water Clown (1:48:17)

#41 Christmas 1980 

Christmas Morning at Home (1:48:45)

Snow Slide in the Backyard (1:51:08)

#42 Christmas 1982

Westra Home (1:51:55)

Grandma Norman's House (1:52:22)

Othello and Backgammon

Baby Derek

Christmas Morning (1:54:03)

#43 Christmas 1983

Little Derek Crawl/Stand/Stairs (1:55:05)

Bathtime (1:56:19)

Easter 1983 (1:56:43)

Christmas (1:57:52)